


daisies are the friendliest flower

by Utopiste



Series: "coven" is just a fancy word for gay witch sorority [5]
Category: American Horror Story, American Horror Story: Apocalypse, American Horror Story: Coven
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Belligerent Sexual Tension, F/F, Madison pretending not to be smitten, Nan Knows, Post Coven, When will I stop making coffee a fundamental part of my Zadison one shots? Never apparently
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-09-01 08:34:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16761670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Utopiste/pseuds/Utopiste
Summary: As much as Zoe despised Madison, even she couldn’t deny that their magics were strangely and powerfully compatible.





	daisies are the friendliest flower

**Author's Note:**

> Based on anon's prompt: _As much as Zoe despised Madison, even she couldn’t deny that their magics were strangely and powerfully compatible._ Thank you anon, I had a lot of fun with this!! 
> 
> Set post Coven in a universe where (almost) no witch was harmed but Zoe and Madison really need to bone. Preferably soon. It's for the good of the Coven.

The first time Zoe ever saw Madison, inside wide white walls too empty for a lonely girl like her, she tried to kill her, then played it off as a joke. The second time, she proceeded to insult her, her clothes and her powers, before asking her to be her best friend. It pretty much set the tone for all of their interactions after that.

It goes like this: Queenie and Madison are always on the verge of killing each other, Nan cannot bear the blonde’s company for too long because, according to her, constantly having to listen to her thoughts makes her want to throw up, and none of the new girls is ready for Madison fucking Montgomery, so Zoe is stuck with her as a partner more often than not. They share their bedroom, sit next to each other at dinner, practice together, and apart from all of that time they are forced to spend with each other, Zoe never sees the other girl. Madison keeps disappearing who-knows-where and reappearing with new marks on her skin and a smile like a shark’s. Sometimes she thinks Madison is a mystery. Most of the time she just thinks she’s really fucking annoying.

“Honestly, girl, I don’t see why you’re being so whiny about it,” Queenie says at breakfast when Zoe complains. “Madison is like, at minimal bitchness around you.”

“Yeah, sure,” Zoe says, “she only killed my boyfriend  _ twice.” _

“First of all, your boyfriend was a zombie the second time, and tried to strangle her, so, doesn’t count,” Queenie argues, counting on one hand while she pours herself coffee with the other. “You just have shitty taste in men.”

“Hey! I apologized for this!” Zoe protests. “Four times!”

“Second of all,” Queenie goes on, ignoring her, “considering her standards, that’s pretty much like making you a friendship bracelet.”

Zoe makes a face. At their left, Nan smiles mysteriously - then again, whenever they discuss Her Assholery of Montgomery, Nan just sits around and looks like she knows something they don’t. (Which is pretty much her default expression, but that’s so not the point.)

“Anyway, even if Madison doesn’t do shit in projects, you always ace them when you’re together,” Nan says and passes the jam to Zoe. “You’re good together.”

Zoe pretends to gag. She isn’t wrong, though: as much as Zoe despises Madison, even she can’t deny that their magics are strangely and powerfully compatible. It is like they are tuned to the same frequency sometimes, Madison anticipating her needs before she even knows about them herself. They  _ did _ bring a guy back to life while Zoe had less than a day of experience in practicing magic, after all. 

She thinks about all of this, and starts to ask Nan, who knows all, if this is something that happens a lot, people who hate each other having magics as complementary as them, but then a younger girl throws buttered bread at someone’s face, and there is damage control to be done, and by the time breakfast is over, Zoe has neither had time to finish this conversation nor eat anything consistent. 

She gets to class with only half a toast in her stomach and a bad mood. Madison waltzes in the room twenty minutes late with a Starbucks cup in hand, still wearing yesterday’s clothes and enormous sunglasses. Of course, she is stunning. 

God, Zoe  _ hates _ her.

“Why do all of these morons look constipated?” Madison says, looking around at the other girls staring at potted flowers. They are all sitting in the biggest classroom of the manor, the sunlight of a summer morning almost blinding them through the window, making Madison’s golden hair gleam as she flips it on her shoulder. “Don’t they know frowning like that gives you wrinkles?”

“Maybe because they are concentrating,” Zoe says.

“Lame. Hey, do you want this? I already had one, and I don’t want my teeth to rot and fall out at thirty. Gold teeth are  _ so _ 1682.”

Zoe glares at her but grabs the coffee all the same to take a sip. It tastes like too much sugar, which is exactly the right amount of sugar, and radiates a glowing warmth in her belly, and she sort of wants to moan at the delight of  _ coffee _ , good god. 

“Hey, why did you take a Latte? I thought you said the only way to drink coffee is  _ black like your soul _ ?” she asks, mockingly mimicking Madison’s droll.

“What? None of your business. A craving. I’m a star. I’m complex and unpredictable. Anyway, what are we supposed to be doing again?” Madison asks with a clear lack of interest.

Zoe inspires and expires and recites the first words of a calming spell in her head. “You have to make this daisy wilt-”

“Easy,” Madison says, closes her first above a plant. It shivers as it withers up and turns an ashy grey.

“-and then revive it and make it bloom,” Zoe finishes. “And that was  _ my _ flower,” she complains, even though she has been trying to do the exact thing Madison just accomplished for fifteen minutes now. 

Madison shrugs. “Well, now you just gotta revive it and make it die again. My work here is done.”

“What is it with you and half-assed plans?” Zoe wonders. Nonetheless, she focuses on the daisy once again, surrounding it with her hands half cupped. She focuses and frowns and feels her blood thrumming with magic. She feels her face relax, closes her eyes, and when she opens them again, she smiles.

The pot is covered in green, white and yellow, leaves interwoven with stems, about half a dozen daisies heaping up. 

“Oh wow, Zoe, dear,” Misty, who is teaching today, says as she appears in front of them. “This is  _ beautiful _ .”

She smiles up at her, giddy in wonder, but not before she instinctively turns around to look at Madison - she doesn’t know why, maybe some leftover fiddle of friendship from before all hell broke loose and they turned from frenemies to plain enemies - and feels her heartbeat stutter. Madison is gazing at her with sparkling dark eyes, an unreadable expression on her face, one she never thought she has ever seen on her and would have described as awe if it was literally anyone else than her.

They avert their eyes almost right away. 

“Yeah, great, I guess you can garden or whatever,” Madison shrugs off. “Congrats, Snow White. I’m sure little birds help you dress in the morning. Still can’t do half the assignment for shit.”

And there it is - the usual flare of annoyance. “Well, I’d like to see you try,” Zoe challenges her. “Come on. Is being nice to  _ one _ living being too much for you?”

“I’m not just going to revive it,” Madison says. “I’ll fucking Jesus Christ this shit, alright?”

She doesn’t “Jesus Christ” anything in the next hour.

When the class comes to its conclusion, they only have to exchange one glance to know the plan, and when Misty asks them to demonstrate, Zoe waves her hands under the table next to Madison’s uncovered thighs to let the other girl’s daisy grow before she returns the courtesy and helps Zoe kill off hers. 

Madison being who she is, she then lets her hand lowered on Zoe’s lap an uncomfortable amount of time. Zoe finds that for once she doesn’t mind so much. 

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments will "fucking Jesus Christ" me from college hell


End file.
